Advertisement

Shower Door Caulk

I would also suggest removing the silicone but don't know how you would do that. Silicone makes a mess and is super hard to remove once it is there. Next time around I would use a "siliconized caulk" but not a 100% silicone caulk. That mold and mildew is encouraged by moisture. If you can't somehow control the moisture in that area you will probably always have the problem.

Shower Door Caulk

Silicone is not that bad to remove actually. A nice sharp razor blade will get you started then use an eraser to take it the rest of the way down. Clean the area with a solvent before re-caulking or it won't seal either, no matter what it is made of. I prefer DAP tub & tile because it sets hard and can be kept clean without the risk of pulling it loose. Any place that gets pulled loose will entrap moisture and grow mold.

Shower Door Caulk

I am having trouble forming a picture of this in my mind. Bolts? The caulk is between grouted tile and glass? Grout will wick moisture under the caulk. In this instance you do not want to use caulk at all.

Shower Door Caulk

Yeah, I see the picture now. I still say ditch the silicon and go with as small a bead as possible with grout. It will still grow mildew if not cleaned but at least it is very easy to keep clean as opposed to stuff growing under silicon which can never be "cleaned". Any household spray cleaner that has bleach in it and a tooth brush will remove any growth on the grout with very little effort.

Shower Door Caulk

You can not effectively "grout" glass to metal. Never seen anybody "bead" grout. Grout is typically only used between tiles. When the tiles juncture with another material caulk is used. If water/moisture has a way to get behind the caulk then nothing in the future is going to change.

The accredited rule is to caulk all changes in plane, be it tile to tile, or tile to glass, or tile to metal, or metal to glass, or glass to glass, unless the glass to glass is glass tile to glass tile.

Shower Door Caulk

Remove the silicone first. Nothing else will stick to it, including silicone itself. There's this great product out there called McKanica Silicone Caulk Remover. You can get it at most hardware stores. Use that to remove it, then clean the surface with rubbing alcohol to ensure the surface is super clean and free of silicone.

A couple other things: if there is mildew in the silicone, that is sometimes a sign that there is moisture getting behind the bead and growing underneath the caulk. In a shower like you have, weigh down the floor with something heavy (a 5-gallon bucket of water will do) to help "expand" the joint so it's at its widest when you apply the caulk. Leave the bucket in there until the caulk has dried a bit, say 4-8 hours. That will help ensure your caulk bead won't get stressed as soon as someone steps in the shower.

I would recommend you use a caulk that has a guarantee to be mildew-free for several years. There are several out there. Do some research and I'm sure you'll find something that will work great.